Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Nielsen BookData NZ Sets Milestone

Good news from New Zealand, all nine New Zealand booksellers voted in Nielsen BookData's NZ Booksellers Choice Award for book of the year. As they note, "For the first time in the history of the Nielsen BookData New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award, several titles received precisely the same number of nominations, making it impossible to create a shortlist of four titles." The seeming statistical impossibility was left unexplained by the data aggregator/market researcher. As a solution, the company decided to create a "long short list" of possible winners. The list amounts to eight titles and the sheer enormity of the task required of Booksellers to make the actual selection is likely to induce rioting.

In fairness, here is the list:

- A Nest of singing Birds: One Hundred Years of the New Zealand School Journal by Gregory O'Brien, published by Learning Media- Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning by Jennifer Hay, published by the Christchurch Art Gallery- Edwin and Matilda: An Unlikely Love Story by Laurence Fearnley, published by Penguin Books NZ Ltd- Mau Moko: The World of Maori Moko by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, published by Penguin Books NZ Ltd- New New Zealand Houses by Patrick Reynolds and John Walsh, published by Random House New Zealand Ltd- New Zealand's Wilderness Heritage by Les Molloy and Craig Potton, published by Craig Potton Publishing- Ribbons of Grace by Maxine Alterio, published by Penguin Books NZ Ltd- Soundtrack: 118 Great New Zealand Albums by Grant Smithies, published by Craig Potton Publishing- The Road to Castle Hill by Christine Fernyhough with Louise Callan, published by Random House New Zealand Ltd

(At least they are books and not rulers - which is an inside joke that only my past colleagues will get).

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Michael Cairns

I enjoy discussing the publishing industry and in particular the changes that impact the business. On PND, I don't write about everything, just the things that interest me.

My career spans a wide range of publishing and information products, services and B2B categories and my operating and consulting experience has largely been with brand-name companies such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Macmillan, Inc., Berlitz International, AARP, R.R. Bowker and Wolters Kluwer.

I have served as a board member of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and in addition to my responsibilities at R.R. Bowker, l also served as Chairman of the International ISBN Executive Committee.